Australia has swiftly turned down China’s offer to “join hands” against Donald Trump’s tariffs, as Washington escalates its trade war with Beijing.
The White House recently imposed an import tax of 10% on Australian goods, but for China – Australia’s biggest trading partner – raised tariffs to 125%.
China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian argued joint resistance is “the only way” to stop the “hegemonic and bullying behaviour of the US”, appealing for Canberra’s cooperation in an opinion piece on Thursday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, said Australians would “speak for ourselves”, while the country’s defence minister said the nation would not be “holding China’s hand”.
“It’s about pursuing Australia’s national interests, not about making common calls with China,” Richard Marles told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Hours earlier, Trump had dramatically changed course on his sweeping tariffs scheme, announcing a 90-day pause for countries hit with high US tariffs. In the meantime, a tariff of 10% would apply.
China was the exception though. Instead, the US imposed an extra bump on import fees, after Beijing announced it would impose 84% counter-tariffs on the US.
Canberra has expressed anger over the tariffs but has said it will not retaliate, instead seeking further negotiations with the White House.
In his opinion piece for Nine Newspapers, Mr Xiao said the US had “weaponised” trade issues and expressed concern that a “weak compromise” would enable Trump to “sabotage the international order” and drag the world economy into a “quagmire” and an “abyss”.
Australia and China have a “mutually beneficial and long-standing co-operation” and need to work together to “safeguard a fair and free trading environment”, he added.
“The international community… should firmly say no to unilateralism and protectionism.”
Albanese told reporters on Thursday that Australia’s trade relationship with China was an important one, but said Australia was focussed on looking for other export opportunities outside of the US.
“Eighty percent of trade does not involve the United States. There are opportunities for Australia and we intend to seize them,” he said.
Marles said Australia is also looking to lessen its reliance on China, to bolster “economic resilience”, adding that the country’s focus would be on diversifying trade, in particular with Indonesia, India, the UK and the UAE.
Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell has held meetings with Japan, Singapore, South Korea and India in recent days.
